Samba

Last weekend was the 30th Asakusa Samba Carnival. Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside Japan and Brazilians make up the third highest  percentage of foreigners here...  stinking hot, and everyone got into it.

Steaming

That's the thing with the Urban Heat Island Effect, Tokyo nights are just about as torrid as the days. 

I need September... or October... or even better a surf!

Uchimizu

To try and deal with the Urban Heat Island Effect that turns Tokyo into a concrete jungle sweatbox every summer, the government have a campaign called Uchimizu that encourages people to sprinkle water on pavements and roads outside their shops and homes between July 23 and Aug 23. 

They reckon the temperature can drop by 2ºC if everyone does this. They encourage you to re-use bathwater or rainwater but not sure how practical that is for shops.

It’s apparently caught on in France and Sweden but I can’t see Sydney swapping the hose pipe bans for a communal Sprinkle day any time soon.

Agave

Agave Bring yer wallet, they’ve got 400 different Tequila and Mescalines... or was it Mezcal... 

same horse, different jockey.

Not Quite

or worse, you may end up riding a piece of shit like this...

Things

Last week, the Base Gallery in Kayabacho was home to Hong Hao’s “Things”. 

Rather than get all this stuff together and take one overhead shot, he scans each everyday object individually and collates them into two-metre wide and one-metre high images.

A couple more lower-res jobbers.

Wish I’d kept all the crazy flyers I’ve seen over the years, could spend hours putting them together.

Donki

Don Quijote are a discount chain-store in Japan that are a mix of Target, Coles, Liquorland, Prouds, Bunnings and Ann Summers. 






They're like a one-stop Warringah Mall.






Depending what you're after, they've got everything you want...






Five years ago they built this half-pipe roller coaster on top of the 8-story Roppongi store but after complaints from neighbouring residents about noise, it's never been used. 








You can see it in here somewhere.

S-court Novel

Could this be the place you've been looking for?

O.E. Gallagher

Cracking night out at the Crawdaddy Club in Kabukicho last Saturday. It was like being back in the Knights Arms in Porthcawl listening to Rory Gallagher’s Calling Card on the jukebox… except this time I wasn’t an under-age kid about to get thrown out by the resident enforcer, landlord and all-round nutter, Ken.

O.E Gallagher. 

Click here to see him doing Tattoo'd Lady in Yotsuya’s Outbreak last January. 

He did tell me what the O.E. meant, but I forgot. How’s that for investigative reporting!

...a toast.